Celebrities including Nicole Kidman have seen their homes burglarized over the past few years. Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue A terrifying LA home invasion of a well-known exec has shocked the industry.
It began as a typical business trip. A prominent industry player boarded a red-eye flight from LAX back East recently. As his plane sat on the tarmac, his LA home was being invaded by two armed assailants, who climbed over the walls. His dogs immediately began barking at the intruders, who continued to breach the property. His wife was hit with a firearm and forced to open a safe, but she managed to escape without further harm as their two young children fled the property to safety.
“It was full-on terrifying,” says one source who was debriefed on the situation. “These robbers are almost not scared anymore. They’ll just come into a house and run the risk that people are home.”
As word rippled through town about the latest violent home invasion, showbiz denizens remained in shock. Those who work in the security industry say that celebrities are no longer the only go-to marks — like the days of the infamous Bling Ring, which burglarized the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Increasingly, other high-profile industry players — who may feel a sense of comfort because they are not household names — are being targeted by burglars because their out-of-town schedules are often just as public.
News of an executive getting a special honor in Deauville or Telluride or Cannes is trumpeted breathlessly by the industry outlets. But strategic thieves may also be reading and getting ready to pounce. And AI is only making it easier to figure out who is out of town or on location for a shoot.
“It’s a combination of social media and burglars using AI as a guide for who’s got an empty house,” says Herman Weisberg, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD whose SAGE security firm services a broad swath of A-listers. “Now, executive protection is basically 50% of my business. You’ve never heard of them and wouldn’t even recognize their name, but they require security now more than ever.”
Colleagues of the Hollywood homeowner say the incident appeared targeted, and that the assailants somehow knew the exec would be leaving town. But the police so far have found no evidence of that and continue to investigate. The home that was robbed was valued in the millions, according to Zillow, which may have made it a random target.
The industry vet, whom we are not identifying, has worked with some of TV’s biggest stars. The violent burglary was reported on by local outlets, but the identity of the homeowner and exact address have been kept private.
“We’re in a community where people feel safe and secure because they have high-end security systems,” says one producer who lives in a tony West Side enclave. “But then you realize our threat level has increased because of AI, and that’s a scary thought.”
“They assume you’re rich,” says one top exec who was shaken by the robbery news and has advised clients and colleagues to keep their financial details out of the press.
Last year alone, the homes of Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Macklemore were broken into. In 2021, after news broke that Dr. Dre had been hospitalized with a brain aneurysm, his Los Angeles home was the target of a burglary ring, Page Six reported at the time. Last month, thieves looted the Kansas City homes of Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes while they were playing in New Orleans.
In 2023, “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin‘s Beverly Hills home was burglarized by intruders wearing ski masks. Ellin took to social media to vent his frustrations, saying, “I know more people who have been robbed in the last six weeks than in the previous 30 years.”
The trend has some stars and top creatives reluctant to have the value of their deals or contracts in the trades, as was once customary. We’ve heard of multiple VIPs who’ve requested to keep the numbers from being reported so as not to generate unwanted attention.
One producer who scored a nine-figure deal with a studio was asking colleagues for advice as to whether he should have the big number publicized, we hear. Another asked reporters not to disclose the dollar amount after selling part of his company.
DeleteMe, which scrubs the internet of identifying information including home addresses, has become a widely used service for Hollywood’s one percent.
Security pros say keeping data off the Internet has become a game of whack-a-mole.
Another insider says: “Some celebs don’t want their homes listed on Zillow. As soon as you put it on Zillow, people will see if anyone is living [at the home], and if no one is living there, they’ll break in and squat. I know an A-list actor who was on location filming, and his realtor went to his house [for sale] and found there were squatters.”
